To show my understanding of a “private experience” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie with a mind map, her story represents that sometimes we might have different beliefs but in times of need and time of misery we are all human and must look out for each other. I represented symbolism with her scarf it showed that the Igbo Christian women and the Hausa Muslim helped each other even though their people were causing the riots and fighting “hating each other” they came together to survive and get through the riot. I looked at this story through a biographical lens because Chimamanda based her stories on things that happened to her or family or friends and she liked the concept of breaking stereotypes and didn’t believe them. “The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story.” This quote shows how she doesn’t believe in stereotyping and in this story she tried to break it. While being raised in Nigeria where her story is based on. I chose to represent my plot with hands all interlocking and looks like they are working together to make each other strong which in the story was also shown with the Muslim women and Chika even though they are all very different when they come together to work they are stronger than before. Then for my setting, I chose to put a flag that is incorporated with the shape of Nigeria since that is where Chimamanda lived and where she would base most of her stories, and this story is, in particular, was a big part of her identity was Nigeria. For the theme, I put an image of a scale because the theme of this story was based on people weighing each other out even if they are so different and others are fighting, they manage to put that behind them and learn how to work and balance each other out. For characterization, I put a group of women holding each other because the Muslim women and Chika had to help each other when injured . The point of view was written in a third-person omniscient because the author was mainly in Chika’s head and a little bit in the Muslim women’s head, I put an image of eyes because the way the author looked at this story put us in a different perspective because you wouldn’t think you would see Christian women and Muslim women trying to work together ever which also adds to the irony used in the story as a literary device, but the author made it in a two-sided way where we truly got to understand them phytologically. Literary devices were used in this story mainly irony and that was almost the whole point of the story I put an image of a magnet because these two women managed to attract each other to safety when they are mainly opposites. Criticism in this story I represented in with an image of the world because when you look and her and where she grew up it makes sense that she hates stereotypes because when she grew up there were so many and was surrounded by them also by general ideas against people by simply assuming things.

Marked by: Serenity Pope